80s Muxtape

A while back I posted the Mefight Club Muxtape that I had been working on. Here is another one of these muxtapes, this one focused on 1980s music (with some spillover into 70s and 90s). The order is by year released. This is the music I grew up with.

While we had most of the major stuff that the people in the U.S. did, we also had a ton of European music, which this leans heavily towards. I have eschewed the really well known for smaller and relatively more obscure stuff, but they were still generally big hits in Sweden during my formative years. In trying to recall the music, I leaned heavily on the 1980s lists by “Tracks” – the radio program “Trackslistan” that still tracks the top songs in Sweden (official site for Tracks is here)

Below is a flash interface for listening to all the music on this muxtape. I’m not linking directly to the mp3 files themselves. (Although you can find them easily if you know where to look…)

Some explanations of why I included these specific songs:

Baccara – Yes Sir, I Can Boogie, 1977

This makes me smile so much every time I hear it. I think this and Boney M are the 70s disco stuff that I remember most, although I would guess the music came from my parents’ collection primarily.

The breakthrough hit for Gyllene Tider (“Golden Times”), one of Sweden’s top bands ever. The singer and primary songwriter – Per Gessle – is the male half of Roxette (the female half – Marie Fredriksson – was a backup singer for this band on some tours). My very first concert ever was seeing them at the auditorium of the local high school – I still have their autographs from that concert somewhere. They reformed in 2006 for a new album and a tour; both were blockbuster hits in Sweden. OK, I’ll link this one, as the lyrics – along with an English translation – are embedded in the mp3.

Indochine – Kao Bang, 1983

An interesting French song that I always liked.

Peter Schilling – Major Tom (Coming Home), 1983

A retelling of Bowie’s Space Oddity/Ashes to Ashes astronaut. I did a project in high school when we had to write about an artist. I had just discovered David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”, so I decided to write about him. That’s how I found out about Bowie and his glamrock career, the Major Tom character, etc. I remember hearing this and feeling very superior to my peers for knowing what he was referencing.

Nik Kershaw – The Riddle, 1984

Aww, the Riddle. It was the subject of endless speculations of meaning in our English classes in high school, and it was a great vocabulary booster, weirdly enough.

Bronski Beat – Small Town Boy, 1984

These days all I see when I hear this song are the Flight of the Conchords’ “Inner City Pressure” skit (although I know that it’s supposed to be a parody of “West End Girls”, it’s somehow what comes to mind for me in hearing this). I always liked this song, though.

Spandau Ballet – Only When You Leave, 1984

Easily my favorite band as a teen, much to my brother’s disgust (he was into heavy metal). Talk about nostalgia. Steve Norman was dreamy!!! <3

Opus – Live Is Life, 1984

One of those European anthems that never made it to the US from what I can tell. Still played at soccer and hockey matches across Europe.

Fancy – Slice Me Nice, 1985

Who the hell knows what they were thinking? It hit number one on the Swedish chart, for some reason. Sometimes still stuck in my head.

Nolan Thomas – Yo’ Little Brother , 1985

This song sounded very American at the time, sort of in the Thriller vein. Played into the stereotypical idea of American inner cities in Sweden in the 80:s – the impressions we had were all from movies.

Sandra – (I’ll Never Be) Maria Magdalena, 1985

She was huge in Germany and Scandinavia, but I don’t know if she ever got to the US. I had totally forgot about this song until I found it on Tracks.

+1 – Nevermore, 1985

Pretty obscure Swedish band. I found an old cassette tape recorded from the radio, with just the very beginning of this song on it. It took me years to figure out what the artist/song name was. “I’m sitting by the fire drinking wine, staring at your portrait all the time. I try to fade away. I can hear your voice fly past my bedroom door, I can hear the rustling of the skirt you wore. I whisper nevermore.”

Falco – Jeanny, 1986

Falco, known for Rock Me Amadeus, had a huge controversy with this song, as the German text (translation) might be construed as advocating rape. It was banned in several countries, including East Germany. I was studying German when this came out, and I can still recite most of the text from memory – it’s probably the only German I can speak these days. I especially like the part that goes “Jetzt hör ich sie! Sie kommen! Sie kommen dich zu holen. Sie werden dich nicht finden. Niemand wird dich finden! Du bist bei mir.” (i.e. “Now I can hear them, they are coming! They’re coming! They are coming to get you. They won’t find you. Nobody will find you! You’re with me.”)

T’Pau – China In Your Hand, 1987

A band named for a Star Trek character? Yes!! Decent song too. I truly didn’t know what the lyrics referenced until very recently, when I actually listened to them with my updated English skills.

Howard Jones – Everlasting Love, 1989

Howard Jones pretty much summarizes my 80:s, and I always thought the mummies in the video were awesome.

Greg Laswell – Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper Cover), 2007

Ok, not technically from the right time, but I really like his version of this standard 80:s tune. I also find it amazing how relevant the music from that time still is..